Microseason 60 of 72 · October 26–31
Clocks fall back — dusk at five
A five-day window of the year, read through nine North American climate regions.
Same week, nine climates
A microseason names a five-day window of the solar year. What that window actually looks like on the ground depends on where you are. Below, the same calendar window read through each of nine North American climate regions.
- NENortheast Continental
Clocks fall back — dusk at five
Standard time returns; afternoon suddenly ends before dinner.
- SESoutheast Subtropical
Light rains whisper down
Light autumn rains fall intermittently; clocks fall back and dusk descends by five o'clock over the quiet South.
- PNWPacific Northwest
Atmospheric rivers arrive
October's final week brings the first serious atmospheric river. Rain measured in inches falls within hours. Rivers swell. Snow line drops to 3000 feet.
- CACalifornia Mediterranean
Rains return at last
First winter atmospheric river arrives. Rain across coastal ranges and valleys. Hillsides drink. Seasons turn.
- MWMountain West
Late rains settle into November patterns
Intermittent cold rain and graupel; the last gasp of fall precipitation before deep snow takes over.
- MPPlains Continental
Light rains fall on frozen ground
Temperatures hover near freezing; light rains fall on stiffened prairie. Snow possible. Daylight saving time ends. Dusk falls before 5pm. The landscape enters deep dormancy.
- SWSouthwest Desert
Winter rains whisper in
Cool Pacific systems bring gentle rain; desert drinks deeply after six dry months.
- TRTropical / Sub-Tropical
Dry season's arrival
October's final week anchors the transition to dry season; afternoon rains disappear, trades blow steady, and landscape color deepens.
- AKAlaska Subarctic
Light ceases; cold reigns absolute
Late October storm systems bring fresh snow; darkness deepens and aurora rules nightly skies across the region.
About the 72-microseason calendar
A microseason is a five-day window of the solar year — long enough to notice something change, short enough that the change is specific. The year holds seventy-two of them, six per month, ordered by what the natural world is doing rather than what the clock says. Almanac calendars like this are an old American habit, kept by farmers, gardeners, and birders for centuries; Weather Story collects them into a single reference.
Each microseason is read through nine North American climate regions. The phenological events that mark a five-day window vary with ecology — the strawberries that open in the Northeast might coincide with the first magnolias dropping in the Southeast and the salmonberry blossoms unfurling in the Pacific Northwest. Same week, nine ecologies, nine readings.